This is just one day’s news from The Power Hour, headed by Joyce Riley. I thought I’d introduce it to all of you.

The also have an Email Blast you can sign up for. And they’re on Facebook and Twitter too.

The Power Hour is best known for its 3-hour, daily radio show that is streamed and archived via GCN Live.

– –

Today’s News: The Riley Report

DECEMBER 2011 (Refresh your browser for newly added news articles added during the program)

Today in History – Tuesday – December 20, 2011
1790 – The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI.
1803 – The US Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer took place in New Orleans.
1820 – The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year.
1860 – South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union.
1864 – Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, GA as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his “March to the Sea.”
1879 – Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ.
1880 – New York’s Broadway became known as the “Great White Way” when it was lighted by electricity.
1928 – Mail delivery by dog sled began in Lewiston, ME.
1946 – In Indochina (Vietnam), full-scale guerrilla warfare between Vietnam partisans and French troops began.
1954 – Buick Motor Company signed Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer. Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour shows over a two-year period for $6,142,500.
1963 – The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964.
1989 – General Noriega, Panama’s former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. The project was known as Operation Just Cause.
1995 – An American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, crashed into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard.
1996 – Doctors reported that a Cypriot woman who had taken fertility drugs was carrying about 11 embryos.
1998 – In Houston, TX, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets.
1999 – Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
1999 – Sovereignty over the colony of Macao was transferred from Portugal to China.
2001 – The U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.
2001 – Argentina’s President Fernando De la Rua resigned after two years in power.
2001 – The first British peacekeepers arrived in Afghanistan to help the nation heal after decades of war.

World News

Sunni Iraq VP denies charges of running hit squads
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Sunni vice president wanted by the Shiite-led government for allegedly ordering hit squads against government officials says he’s innocent of any charges

Hezbollah denies US money laundering charges
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah is denying US allegations of involvement in a $300 million laundering scheme and drugs trafficking, with its deputy leader claiming in comments published Tuesday the charges were false and that America was “not fooling anyone” with accusations meant to harm his anti-Israeli group.

Philippines sends coffins as toll nears 1,000 dead
ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) — The government shipped more than 400 coffins to two flood-stricken cities in the southern Philippines on Tuesday as the death toll neared 1,000 and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity.

EU fails to reach euro200 billion IMF loan target
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union finance ministers have come up euro50 billion ($65.19 billion) short of their goal of providing the International Monetary Fund with euro200 billion ($260.78 billion) to help heavily indebted nations avoid default.

Iraq War Ends With A $4 Trillion IOU
Daily Bail – WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The nine-year-old Iraq war came to an official end on Thursday, but paying for it will continue for decades until U.S. taxpayers have shelled out an estimated $4 trillion. Over a 50-year period, that comes to $80 billion annually. Although that only represents about 1% of nation’s gross domestic product, it’s more than half of the national budget deficit. It’s also roughly equal to what the U.S. spends on the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency combined each year.

Pentagon chief sees close partnership with Libya
TRIPOLI – U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that Tripoli could become an important security partner of Washington as he visited Libya on Dec. 17 for talks with new regime officials. “We are and will be your friend and partner,” Panetta said at a news conference with Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib. “This new and free Libya can become an important security partner of the United States,” he said, adding that Washington was looking forward to building a close partnership. “We stand ready to offer whatever assistance in the spirit of friendship and a spirit of mutual respect.”

Syria to allow Arab monitors, 100 dead in violence
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria agreed Monday to an Arab League plan to send foreign monitors, bowing to growing international pressure to end its bloody crackdown on a nine-month uprising. However the opposition saw the deal as a stalling tactic, especially given reports by activists that more than 100 people were killed on the same day.

Obama criticizes Venezuela’s ties to Iran, Cuba
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Barack Obama criticized Venezuela’s human rights record and its ties to Iran and Cuba, telling a Venezuelan newspaper in comments published Monday that he is concerned about threats to democracy in the country.

North Korea test fires short-range missile
North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday, the same day it announced the death of leader Kim Jong-Il, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said. The agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying the launches were unrelated to the announcement that Kim had died Saturday of a heart attack. “The missiles are estimated to have a range of about 120 kilometres (72 miles),” the official said on condition of anonymity.

VIDEO: North Koreans: The Most Enslaved People On Earth
Paul Joseph Watson – This is something the establishment media has completely failed to explain properly. All the video footage of weeping North Koreans stricken with grief over the death of the “dear leader” Kim Jong-Il is by no means spontaneous or natural. It’s all part of the fun of living in a Stalinist dictatorship. If citizens do not show the appropriately sullen facial expressions, if they don’t produce tears, and if they don’t properly grieve for the dead dictator, they face imprisonment and possible execution.

Defector: Rumors Circulating Kim Jong-Il Was Assassinated
Paul Joseph Watson – A prominent North Korean defector and a South Korean politician are contradicting reports that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack, pointing to rumors that he was assassinated as result of an internal power struggle between the ruling Communist Workers’ Party and the country’s military.

Russia slams US Global Online Freedom Act as ‘Cold War scheme’
RT – The online freedom bill proposed in the US seeks to regulate the web activities of foreign countries and businesses by imposing its own unilateral standards, says Russia’s Foreign Ministry. Moscow insists the UN is the place to pass global laws. The projected Global Online Freedom Act states that the US State Department will have to review annually the list of countries “restricting Internet freedom.” The bill would ultimately block the export of American software and hardware to the counties on the blacklist. A license would be required to export products when the end-user was a government.

Over 462 trillion becquerels Fukushima strontium in Pacific Ocean, Seafood risk
Examiner – The Asahi Shimbun newspaper released calculations Monday showing at least 462 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium have leaked into the Pacific Ocean since Fukushima’s No. 1 nuclear power plant catastrophe began…. According to Greenpeace independent research, Government and retailors are not adequately protecting the public from dangerous radioactive contaminated Pacific seafood, still sold unlabeled in Japan and on the international market, including to the United States due to a secret pact between Secretary Clinton and the Japanese Prime Minister.

Alarm as Dutch lab creates highly contagious killer flu
A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it. The discovery has prompted fears within the US Government that the knowledge will fall into the hands of terrorists wanting to use it as a bio-weapon of mass destruction. Some scientists are questioning whether the research should ever have been undertaken in a university laboratory, instead of at a military facility.

VIDEO: Canada Leaves Kyoto Protocol For The Wrong Reasons
Activist Post- Unfortunately, one of the major reasons for Canada exiting was that the protocol didn’t cover enough countries. The exit had absolutely nothing to do with this global warming hoax being shattered.

German village generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it needs, earns millions selling it back to national power grid
(NaturalNews) BioCycle reports that the German village of Wildpoldsried, population 2,600, has had such incredible success in building its renewable energy system. Wildpoldsried generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it uses, and it now sells the excess back to the national power grid for roughly $5.7 million in additional revenue every single year.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

YouTube: Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk 12/19/11: European Bailout Will Make Crisis Far Worse
Ron Paul ‘s weekly update.

VIDEO: Ron Paul Jay Leno Backstage & Dana Carvey Impression
NBC – Ron Paul interviewed after Jay Leno, answers question from viewers.

Major Romney Donors Help Enrich Romney Family Through Joint Financial Relationships
As Mitt Romney vies for the presidency, like almost all major candidates, he has courted a network of very wealthy donors. But what sets Romney apart is the direct financial relationship he has forged with some of his major campaign contributors. Solamere Capital, an investment company set up by Mitt’s son Tagg Romney and Romney campaign finance chair Spencer Zwick, directs investments for Mitt’s most active political donors. The firm, founded in 2008, received a $10 million seed investment from Mitt Romney himself.

Drone pilots on the edge of collapse
RT – According to new study released by the US Air Force, an overwhelming number of the pilots that command unmanned robotic drones from operation centers in America are suffering from intense stress, even if they are on the other side of the world from where their attacks are being carried out. With the US continuing drone strikes despite opposition from allies overseas such as Pakistan, the toll that the task of commanding the controversial crafts could be having on its pilots could be detrimental to the Department of Defense, who insists on pushing through with the program even with the end result including droves of dead civilians since the missions began.

Paul Passes Gingrich in New Hampshire at 21%
American Research Group – Mitt Romney continues to lead the New Hampshire Republican Presidential Preference Primary with 35%. Jumping into second place is Ron Paul with 21%. Newt Gingrich is now in third place with 16% and Jon Huntsman is in fourth place with 13%.

VIDEO: Ron Paul: Phone From Home Our Secret Weapon
Start today and start making a difference! It is very easy to do. Register and verify your phone and email address, and start making calls in minutes.

DOJ Conspiring with ACORN-Connected Project Vote?
As you may recall, Judicial Watch investigated a partnership between the DOJ and ACORN-connected Project Vote to use the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA) to register more individuals on public assistance, widely considered a key voting demographic for the Obama 2012 campaign. (Remember, President Obama previously worked for Project Vote.) Well, this week we obtained some new records courtesy of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on August 19, 2011. The records detail communications between the DOJ and Estelle Rogers, a former ACORN attorney currently serving as Director of Advocacy for Project Vote.

Gingrich-Linked Propagandist Recycles Debunked “Racist” Ron Paul Smear
Paul Joseph Watson – With the establishment terrified of Ron Paul’s snowballing success as he heads to the Iowa primary leading the Republican race, an onslaught of already debunked, agenda-driven, and desperate hit pieces have re-emerged. Prime amongst them is an attempt to re-hash the ludicrous assertion that Ron Paul wrote racist newsletters in the early 1990′s when the material was clearly produced by other authors without Ron Paul knowing its content.

Gingrich PAC Took $7.6 Million From One Donor, Used Money To Fly Across The Country For Public Events
Think Progress – The Supreme Court’s decision to gut campaign finance laws in its 2009 Citizens United decision predictably opened the gates of the American electoral system to an influx of corporate money and influence, first in the 2010 midterm elections and then in numerous statewide and local campaigns. In Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states with contentious campaigns, corporations flooded the system with money — in judicial elections alone, just three corporations spent 13 times as much as the labor movement.

Pro-Adultery Website Endorses Gingrich
Think Progress – A website that promotes adultery has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, and even erected a giant billboard in Pennsylvania to announce it. Next to a picture of Gingrich making a “shh” gesture, the billboard reads: “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband.”

Now Holder plays the race card
Daily Caller – The White House hasn’t returned requests for comment on whether President Barack Obama agrees with his top law enforcement officer’s allegations of racial motivations. Holder’s accusations come as resignation calls mount from a growing list of 60 congressmen, two senators, every major Republican presidential candidate and two sitting governors, spurred on by the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. Additionally, seventy-five congressmen have signed onto a House resolution for a vote of “no confidence” in Holder as attorney general. Between the two lists, there are 86 total in the House who no longer trust Holder to head the Department of Justice.

Manning admitted to releasing collateral damage video
RT – Four days into a pre-trial hearing against Bradley Manning, the courtroom is quickly becoming just as heated as the documents that the alleged whistleblower is being accused of leaking online. On day four of the hearings on Monday, the prosecution against Private First Class Bradley Manning supplied the court with a series of email messages between the alleged WikiLeaks contributor and a contact named Eric Schmiedl. According to the correspondence, Manning took credit for releasing the controversial “collateral damage” video that displayed the US military helicopter launching cold-blooded attack on civilians.

Mexican ex-officials work for US intelligence says report
Breitbart – At least 80 former Mexican government officials are currently working as informants for US intelligence agencies, the daily La Jornada reported, citing senior Mexican officials. Most of them are gathering information for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the prestigious daily reported. Senior officials in the attorney general’s office and the interior ministry said that those informants work as spies, gather and analyze information, and follow cases on request.

Judge to rule by end-year on South Carolina immigration law
(Reuters) – A federal judge said on Monday he would decide by the end of 2011 whether to block enforcement of South Carolina’s new law curbing immigration, as judges have done with several other state laws. Judge Richard Gergel heard arguments from attorneys for a coalition of civil rights groups and the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to halt the law going into effect, saying it usurps the federal government’s constitutional power to regulate immigration.

Walter Reed accidentally bans Bibles
The Examiner – Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is backtracking on an order that banned family members from bringing Bibles and other religious materials to injured soldiers and a religious organization is demanding an explanation. Issued on the date of the official consolidation of the region’s two military medical centers, the memo on visitor and patient policy contained a section stating “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.” The Sept. 14 memo came from the desk of Col. Norvell Coots, the commander of the Walter Reed Healthcare system.

VIDEO: Pensacola Pastor Threatened with Arrest for Speaking at Public City Hall Meeting
Father Nathan Monk tells the City Council, “We have the right to redress our government without fear of being arrested,” and is nearly arrested. When Monk refused to leave, noting that he had not violated any rules of conduct, Hall asked Police Chief Simmons and two other uniformed police officers in attendance to remove him. He refused to budge until his allotted time was up, after which he was escorted from council chambers by the officers.

Occupy Wall Street Protest

VIDEO: OWS marks 3-month anniversary in New York
RT – From the Arab Spring – to America’s Autumn, now turned Winter. The Occupy Wall Street movement has marked its 3-month anniversary this weekend. Images of arrests, brutality, and mass protesting in America over the last 3 months have been gripping the world. “The cops must be smacking themselves in the forehead, because they’ve given such life to this movement,” said Truthout contributor JA Myerson.

Economy

The Silver Rush at MF Global
Investors are furious that they can’t get back the gold and silver they stashed with the failed brokerage. It’s one thing for $1.2 billion to vanish into thin air through a series of complex trades, the well-publicized phenomenon at bankrupt MF Global. It’s something else for a bar of silver stashed in a vault to instantly shrink in size by more than 25%. That, in essence, is what’s happening to investors whose bars of silver and gold were held through accounts with MF Global.

Congress moves toward standoff over payroll tax
WASHINGTON (AP) — Partisan to the core, Congress careened toward a holiday-season standoff Monday on legislation to prevent a Social Security payroll tax increase for 160 million workers on Jan. 1.

Obamas ready for the most expensive $4 million vacation ever!
RT – If you’re having a hard time finishing all your Christmas shopping this holiday season, you might want to ask the president for a few bucks. The latest tally on the expected cost of his upcoming vacation has been upgraded to around $4 million. Sound pricey? It is. In fact, at that price tag it stands to be the costliest presidential vacation ever.

DANGER: BANK OF AMERICA shares close below $5
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shares of Bank of America Corp closed below $5 on Monday for the first time since the depths of the bear market in March 2009. The stock closed at $4.99, down 4 percent, after dropping as low as $4.92. The shares haven’t closed below $5 since March 11, 2009.

Fed ‘to embrace global banking rules’
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Federal Reserve is expected to embrace a new global framework that requires giant financial institutions to hold extra capital, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Citing unnamed people familiar with the situation, the newspaper said the Fed’s decision to accept the rules laid out by regulators in Basel, Switzerland, could come before Christmas. It is a defeat for big US banks that argued the guidelines needn’t be so strict, the report said. They contended the Basel approach could prompt them to reduce lending and hurt the economy.

List of the 30 top corporations that spent more on lobbying than they paid in federal taxes
DailyMail 2011 Dec 14 – A report by a liberal corporate watchdog group has revealed 30 major US corporations that spent more money to lobby Congress than they paid in federal taxes in 2008, 2009 and 2010…. Instead of adding to the federal government’s coffers, tax payers actually gave these 30 companies $11 billion in rebates and refunds over three years despite $164 billion in profits, according to Public Campaign, a nonprofit interest group that seeks to reduce the power of corporate money in politics.

Debt In Perspective – The Startling Truth
I recently received an email in which our national debt was broken down to a level
that really hits home. Here is how it went.

Housing Market

Four House members received Countrywide VIP mortgages
Four members of the House of Representatives received discounted mortgages through a special Countrywide program, according to a letter Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. sent to an ethics committee Friday. Issa did not name the congressmen in the letter. The committee on Government Oversight and Accountability launched an investigation into the Countrywide Financial Corp. VIP program in 2008. It subpoenaed Bank of America twice and received roughly 100,000 pages of documents showing the VIP loans serviced by Countrywide branch 850.

VIDEO: 60 Minutes – Prosecuting Wall Street Fraud At Citigroup And Countrywide – DOJ On The Defensive
Daily Bail – Outstanding segment from Sunday night for anyone who missed it. This first portion focuses on fraud at Countrywide. Read the transcript at CBS.

Energy & Environment

AP IMPACT: EPA rules threaten older power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to shut down and an additional 36 might have to close because of new federal air pollution regulations, according to an Associated Press survey. Together, those plants – some of the oldest and dirtiest in the country – produce enough electricity for more than 22 million households, the AP survey found. But their demise probably won’t cause homes to go dark…. Tax revenues and jobs will be lost, and investments in new power plants and pollution controls probably will raise electric bills.

EPA Ponders Expanded Regulatory Power In Name of ‘Sustainable Development’
Fox News – The EPA wants to change how it analyzes & makes decisions, in a way that will give it vastly expanded power to regulate businesses, communities and ecosystems. Its aim: how to integrate sustainability “as one of the key drivers within the regulatory responsibilities of EPA.” The panel who wrote the study declares part of its job to be “providing guidance to EPA on how it might implement its existing statutory authority to contribute more fully to a more sustainable-development trajectory for the United States.”

BP Sponsoring Tourism Ads for the Gulf
Activist Post – What does BP have to do with the Gulf besides causing one of the world’s worst man-made disasters? Why, appointing themselves as the Gulf’s new PR agent! BP is exerting much effort and advertising funds to bring more tourists to the Gulf.

Eco-labels on fish may have little meaning
(NaturalNews) The extra money you pay for seafood carrying an eco-label may not support better environmental fish farming. That’s the conclusion of a study released December 7, 2011 by the University of Victoria’s Seafood Ecology Research Group(SERG).

Health

Life-threatening Pneumonia Is Caused by Pneumonia Vaccine
Gaia Health – The anti-pneumonia & ear infection vaccine, Prevnar, is causing a life-threatening superbug. Prevnar, the perfect vaccine, pushed on all children, causes a worse disease, opening a brand new “need” for a new vaccine to continue the cycle.

Vaccine-Produced Immune Cells May Be Associated with Leukeumia
Gaia Health – Vaccines may be causing leukemia. New research may explain how blood cells can become cancerous, causing leukemia. It also shows the plausibility of deranged immune systems & lack of vaccine effectiveness.

Tumeric Benefits And Uses
This member of the ginger family has a bright orange root that contains the yellow pigment curcumin. Curcumin is considered anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. Not only that but is also an extremely powerful antioxidant and has shown some anti-cancer properties! In India it has been considered a whole body cleanser but is also used to treat fever, infections, arthritis, dysentery, jaundice and other liver problems. It is also used to treat fungal infections and as a digestive aid. That’s a lot of medicine in one little spice jar! Here are a few uses that you may not have thought of….

Are Chillies Good For You?
Health Freedoms – Well, yes they are. Chillies are high in vitamins including Vitamin C, Vitamin A and some calcium. The Chilli pepper also contains capsaicin which helps to reduce congestion and breaks down phlegm. Chilli’s also act like a painkiller and releases endorphins into the body which helps to reduce stress and creates a happy, relaxed feeling.

Gardasil boys come marching in – 4 new Gardasil deaths reported to VAERS
(NaturalNews) (NaturalNews) God grant me the serenity to realize that government health agencies are no longer going to protect my family’s health and wellbeing – the courage to stand up and say ‘no’ to forced vaccination and the wisdom to know the difference between coercion and compliance. Amen.
– Serenity Prayer – Revised

Formerly healthy, energetic boy still suffers from extreme narcolepsy two years after getting swine flu vaccine
(NaturalNews) (NaturalNews) Shortly after six-year-old Josh Hadfield of Somerset, UK, got jabbed with Pandemrix, GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) vaccine for H1N1 / swine flu, a few years ago, he developed extreme narcolepsy that caused him to sleep up to 19 hours a day. Two years later, the boy is still suffering from the condition, and now takes daily doses of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug Ritalin, as well as two other antidepressants, to supposedly alleviate his symptoms.

Flame Retardant Chemical Banned in Europe and Japan Used in U.S. Soda for Decades
Activist Post – A synthetic chemical known as brominated vegetable oil (BVO) – first patented by chemical companies as a flame retardant – is increasingly being identified as a threat to your health, but soda companies still have yet to remove BVO as an ingredient. …BVO has reportedly led to soda-drinkers experiencing skin lesions, memory loss, and nerve disorders. Interestingly, these are all the symptoms of overexposure to bromine.

Highly Toxic Mercury Present in Processed Foods, Yet FDA Does Nothing
Activist Post – Why has the FDA ignored the fact that mercury, an element that is highly toxic in all forms, was found in a large number of brand-name processed foods? Specifically, the mercury content was found to be contained in high-fructose corn syrup, which also reportedly contains genetically modified ingredients.

Top 10 Most Important Health Freedom Stories of 2011
Activist Post – 2011 was an amazing year for the health freedom movement, with monumental victories against Monsanto, Merck and money-hungry pharmaceutical corporations as a whole. As the year comes to a close, it is important to look back on some of the most important stories that helped to propel the natural health movement into the mainstream spotlight.

Banned in 27 Countries, Monsanto’s rBGH Inhabits Many U.S. Dairy Products
Activist Post – he synthetic hormone is created using molecules and DNA sequences that are a result of molecular cloning, which has been linked to breast and gastrointestinal cancer. Unfortunately, it is estimated that around 1/3 of cows in the United States are injected with this synthetic hormone, which means that you have most likely been highly exposed to rBGH if you live in the U.S. or have eaten U.S. dairy products.

Fruit and veggie based diets reduce stroke risk
(NaturalNews) Eating lots of fruits and vegetables helps lower the risk of developing a stroke, a new study shows. The new report comes from a team of scientists at the the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and was published in the “Stroke” journal of the American Heart Association.

Science & Technology

US courts already enforcing SOPA-style shut-downs
RT – While activists waging for a free Internet advocate against the possible passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the US court system is already favoring big business by thwarting third-party competition without any objections. In at least three cases recently, the US court system has attacked websites that employed unauthorized usage of a major label’s branding, specifically True Religion clothing, Chanel cologne and Philip Morris. In the latest case filed by the cigarette giant, prosecution for Morris lobbied to have several websites and their contents and funds seized and transferred without the defense ever able to present a case.

UMG claims “right to block or remove” YouTube videos it doesn’t own
Ars Technica – Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload’s request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its “Mega Song.” UMG insists that it had a right to take down the video—not under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as Megaupload had assumed, but under a private contractual arrangement between UMG and YouTube.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Occupy the Food System
Huffington Post – No one knows this better than family farmers, whose struggle to make a living on the land has gotten far more difficult since corporations came to dominate our farm and food system. We saw signs of it when Farm Aid started in 1985, but corporate control of our food system has since exploded. From seed to plate, our food system is now even more concentrated than our banking system. Most economic sectors have concentration ratios hovering around 40 percent, meaning that the top four firms in the industry control 40 percent of the market.

Miscellaneous

Waiting for Santa – a Christmas greeting

Humor

New Dress Code? Barney Frank Wears Revealing Shirt On House Floor
Outgoing Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was on the House floor late Monday afternoon wearing a t-shirt and a sling due to a recent operation on his thumb. Frank was wearing a revealing shirt, one which you could see through that exposed what his bare chest looks like. The outgoing congressman said his recent attire was due to surgery he had on a ligament in his thumb.

YouTube: You’re the Wrong One, Mr. Gingrich
The latest parody from JJ Jones, motivated by the 2012 race for President. You’re the Wrong One, Mr. Gingrich! Fortunately we have a better choice.